Bournemouth vs Saint's - a long awaited revenge

The idea of Bournemouth and Southampton having a rivalry is looked at very differently; Bournemouth fans have a true dislike for us Saints fans whilst the majority of our own support continually wonders why. But Bournemouth have just as much reason to dislike us as Portsmouth do.

Why then do they have any resentment towards us? After all what have we ever done to them? The answer is a lot.

Perhaps the first reason for them to detest us is because of what we are, and what we represent. What do we represent you may ask? We represent the one thing that clubs from the lower divisions loathe the most, the premier league. Sure we aren`t in the Premiership, but in the eyes of the lower league clubs we represent the money spindling corporate merry go round of the top division.

The Premiership is perhaps the greatest enemy to grass roots football, big clubs poaching young talent, getting all the television coverage and sponsorship money, and stealing fans away from they`re local clubs to support the areas biggest side.

Let`s not forget that Southampton F.C. is the 'big side` in this county, and its our club that has drawn away talent from Bournemouth, stole potential supporters as well as used the club as a place to give our reserves a run out.

The idea of watching Manchester United and Liverpool was a more exciting prospect to any young fan than Macclesfield and Lincoln, and therefore local support has been pulled away over the years.

So then, to have a concept where a premiership club that once raided and pillaged lower league sides to be in the same division? It would be like an Oxford graduate banker ending up working part time at LIDL, a sense of coming down to earth with one hell of a reality check.

Perhaps what`s worse is that the majority of Saint`s fans still don`t understand just why Bournemouth despise us so much.

Patronising comments like 'we gave you money when you needed it`, 'we did this and that`, it`s like almost telling them its ok that we pushed them aside and reaped the rewards whilst they languished in the lower leagues struggling to survive.

I`m sure that we did help them financially in some way, but when you look at what we have taken from them by just being here, you can see why they see our donations and demand of appreciation for it as little more than a fraction of the damage we have done to grass roots football. It`s like destroying a rainforest then planting a rosebush in your back garden, and then not only feeling better about it but demanding some sort of respect for it.

outhampton and Bournemouth then, is a rivalry that should not be underestimated, for them it is a chance to claim revenge for years of patronising and having us purging they`re talent and local support. Years of envy and dislike has been built up and finally the long awaited day has come.

The Middle class banker then, has lost his penthouse apartment and is down the coal mines, and the miners are finally face to face with the class 'enemy'.

Comments

0

A good read. While some AFCB fans hate (always a strong word) your lot. Others just enjoy the local banter. You are of course our closest club, so it's obvious you're going to be seen as "rivals". Others even follow both clubs and most couldn't care less about you one way or the other and are only interested in our club. Anyway, glad someone "gets" it regarding the patronising comments and "demanding some sort of respect" over the few quid in the buckets at the friendly!

Wow, now that I can understand.But some of the hatred they feel towards us is that how we look upon the Chelseas' and Man Utds of this world?
I loathe the way they waste money on average premier players and by doing so push up the prices of all players. As of yet I had never looked upon us as a rich club able to spend millions willy nilly.
Even now when saved by our rich benefactor I don't look upon us as being rich. For this league maybe, but a year ago we were nearly dead because we had no money. I am still adjusting to the fact that we are now safe from money fears for the moment.

Hey Red army comrade yet another great article. I don't know enough about this so-called rivalry as I have only been a Saint for a matter of three years or so. to me they are just the club we never played from down the road. Now we get a chance to actually see them at ours. That's cool.

This is another great article by our new star. i can understand the logic and can also feel some of the way he is coming across. This game of ours is about levels and at the moment we are not near the top. We can feel some of the longing and need that cherry fans are feeling because of our recent plight. They need to beat us for more reasons than we need to beat them. Revenge may be a good word for the feeling they would get but Justice is another.

Cracking article, but think the word hate is strong, as an AFCB supporter all my life (which happens to be a fair few years), i think we've envied what you had, whilst we were getting shafted by various boards. Always there or there abouts but never actually getting the promotion, i always said our boards never wanted it. Shame as back in the 70's and 80's think the club could have been up there withyou.
Still only my opinion, but having been to St Mary's several times to support soton will be nice to visit as an away supporter this time, i will enjoy it as it will be the last time for a long time, can see you going straight up at the end of the season. Good luck

I think you are making something out of nothing.Obviously when you play your local"rival" in the league or cup you have that little extra incentive to beat them. It is a natural thing. You are infering that the rivalry is the same as Saints-Pompey. I think you are way off the mark with that comment.
Bournemouth fans know that as a "small club",and I mean that in the nicest possible way,they will never rival Saints or Pompey for ground size,fan base etc. They will do as well as they can this season and give that little bit extra when playing Saints.
They did fantastically well last season to be promoted and I think most Saints fans were glad about that. They did this despite no money and a transfer embargo.
I believe most Bournemouth fans will be happy just to see them survive in League 1 this season and if they manage to beat Saints in the cup or league they will look upon that as having a very good season. Whereas most Saints fans will think that if we do not achieve automatic promotion it will be seen as a failure.
Two different teams with different ambitions who happen to be 25 miles apart.

Legod, perhaps its not as bad as Portsmouth because they are a small club, but there are also quite a few similarities, Portsmouth fans hated us for many years when they were in the championship and when we were above them for so long we forgot about them, it was only when they got promoted that we realised just how much they resented us. Bournemouth are fairly similar in how the rivalries stemmed.
What this article aims to do is to show people why there is a rivalry, and why Bournemouth fans hold a resentment towards us, especially over being 'patronised'.
As bad as Portsmouth? perhaps not, but its a rivalry that could have become just as fierce if not more if they had been higher up in the leagues.

I agree with a lot of what you say legod7 but have you checked the bournemouth sites lately. the ones posting have openly spoken of their dislike for us scummers. Personally, as I think I have stated before, I think most think of us as we think of the big five or six. As you say a bit of envy.
If we do have to lose to them I would hope that it is the first meeting. At least that would be a wake up call.

Skier I think that you probably speak for the largest section of your fan base. The noisiest ones are usually in the minority in every walk of life. Cherries had a fantastic season last time round and having seen your pre-season games perhaps we should be looking for a match with you next season. It would sell that is for sure and would t least be a game played as a real game and not just as a friendly.

We are looking forward to this game with lots of wariness. After playing Plymouth who will be wanting to show that they are ready to go straight back up to the CCC. We will have our local team in the west coming to show us how they did so well last season in gaining promotion. Neither game for me is a gimme and both look to be games that can go either way.
The Cherries will have a very noisy bunch cheering them on and I think we will have a good game with loads of banter.
As an aside there are a couple of pubs which will accept Cherry fans, sited not far from the ground. So whatever the score on the day let us all have a day full of good banter, drinking and football.